Page:History of the Reign of Ferdinand and Isabella the Catholic Vol. I.djvu/337

193 ADMINISTRATION OF CASTILE, 193 tion of business was reserved for the counsellors specially appointed. ^^ Much the larger proportion of these, by the new arrangement, was made up of jurists, whose professional education and experi- ence eminently qualified them for the station. The specific duties and interior management of the council were prescribed with sufficient accuracy. Its authority as a court of justice was carefully lim- ited ; but, as it was charged with the principal ex- ecutive duties of government, it was consulted in all important transactions by the sovereigns, who paid great deference to its opinions, and very fre- quently assisted at its deliberations.'^ No change was made in the high criminal court of alcaldes de corte^ except in its forms of proceed- CIIAPTEH VI, 11 OrdenanQas Reales de Casti- 11a, (Burgos, 1528,) lib. 2, tit. 3, ley 31. This constitutional, though, as it would seem, impotent right of the nobility, is noticed by Sempere. (Hist, des Cortes, pp. 123, 129.) It should not have escaped Marina. I'-i Lib. 2, tit. 3, of the Ordenan- Qas Reales is devoted to the royal council. The number of the mem- bers was limited to one prelate, as president, three knights, and eight or nine jurists. (Prologo.) The sessions were to be held every day, in the palace. (Leyesl,2.) They were instructed to refer to the other tribunals all matters not strictly coming within their own jurisdiction. (Ley 4.) Their acts, in all cases except those specially reserved, were to have the force of law without the royal signature. (Leyes23, 24.) See also Los Doc- tores Asso y Manuel, Instituciones del Derecho Civil de Castilla, (Madrid, 1792,) Introd. p. Ill; VOL. I. 25 and Santiago Agustin Riol, In- forme, apud Semanario Erudito, (Madrid, 1788,) torn. iii. p. 114, who is mistaken in stating the number of jurists in the council, at this time, at sixteen ; a change, which did not take place till Philip XL's reign. (Recop. de las Leyes, lib. 2, tit. 4, ley 1.) Marina denies that the council could constitutionally exercise any judicial authority, at least, in suits between private parties, and quotes a passage from Pulgar, showing that its usurpations in this way were restrained by Ferdinand and Isabella. (Teoria, part. 2, cap. 29.) Powers of this nature, however, to a considerable extent, appear to have been conceded to it by more than one statute under this reign. See Recop. de las Leyes, (lib. 2, tit. 4, leyes 20, 22, and tit. 5, ley 12,) and the unqualified testimony of Riol, Informe, apud Semanario Erudito, ubi supra.